Posted by: Wonderduck at 07:29 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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I didn't set out to make a depressing Valentine's Day picture, but that's sure as heck what I ended up with... and I like it like that, I think.  Seems appropriate, somehow.  Hopefully, some of you out there are having a good VD, and those of you who aren't... well, settle back, watch some anime, and curse Hallmark for creating such a stupid holiday in the first place.

Bastiches, all of 'em.

UPDATE: As soon as I hit "post", I asked myself what would be a good anti-Valentine's Day anime to watch?  The first thing that leaped to mind was High School of the Dead... what's yours?

UPDATED UPDATE: Leave it to friend Greyduck to nail it with his most recent Quacked Panes.

Posted by: Wonderduck at 07:20 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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I woke up this morning, and this is what I saw out on my balcony.

I have no idea what combination of wind, sun and cold conspired to make this happen, but it pleased me to no end.

UPDATE:

The tiniest duck, closeup, cropped from the original picture.  He's 3/4" long x 1/2" tall.  I didn't dare put anything bigger on the snow formation, in fear of hastening the impending collapse... though it hasn't fallen down yet.

In case you're wondering, Duck U is still closed.  According to an e-mail sent last night by Matt the Screwdriver, VP of Campus Ops, most of the sidewalks are still covered with snowdrifts six feet deep and the main road through campus is impassable.  I can only imagine what the parking lots look like.  So... snow day #2!

Posted by: Wonderduck at 11:29 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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I'm sure I've never mentioned this, but The Librarian is a children's librarian, every age from "real young" to "teenager."  A few months ago, she told me that her latest project for the "real young" group was going to involve something called "Model Magic," a sculpting clay.  Jokingly, I said "Ooh, make me a duckie" and promptly forgot about the whole thing.

This past Wednesday, we went out for dinner.  Towards the end, she presented me with the duckie she made.  Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce Frank!

Why Frank?  When The Librarian handed him to me, I looked him over and was mightily impressed.  I then mused aloud "What should I name him?"  The Librarian, with no hesitation whatsoever, replied "Frank."  So Frank he is.  Frank gets his color from a green glow-in-the-dark paint.  Alas, it isn't a strong enough glow to show up in my camera, though it's quite visible to the eye.

Frank has the honor of being the only hand-made duckie in my flock, though Rusty II might qualify as well.  Certainly he's one-of-a-kind... thanks, The Librarian!

Posted by: Wonderduck at 11:08 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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And so another year's round of Duckmas pictures comes to an end with Santa duckies on a snowdrift.  Thank you for coming by every day to take a look at what my lil' buddies were up to, and thank you for reading The Pond!

Merry Christmas everybody!

Posted by: Wonderduck at 08:51 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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1 Merry Christmas! I really enjoyed this Christmas set

Posted by: Digicolleen at December 25, 2010 02:36 PM (y3twI)

2 Thank you Wonderduck!  It's always fun to visit your Pond, but 12 Days of Duckmas is a holiday joy I truly look forward too. 

Posted by: Gerberette at December 26, 2010 12:11 AM (FfGmL)

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Star of wonder, star of light,
Star of royal beauty bright,
Westward leading, still proceeding,
Guide us to thy perfect light.

Told you we'd be seeing the three Wise Men Ducks again.  Click "more" for an alternate version of this entry.
^{Thanks to the manager of the Duck U. Bookstore for providing the artwork!}

more...

Posted by: Wonderduck at 08:53 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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1 * Its all so magical!* Great concept and ingenuity....and yes, still love the blue-light special one the best! Merry Christmas Wonderduck!

Posted by: Duck U Bkstr Mgr at December 24, 2010 10:42 AM (uDSe4)

2 Agreed, the blue-lit version is definitely better. Well done again!

Posted by: GreyDuck at December 24, 2010 11:04 AM (7lMXI)

3 What they said. Pretty!

Posted by: ButMadNNW at December 24, 2010 04:41 PM (YbiO2)

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"Mercy! Dreadful apparition, why do you trouble me? Why do spirits walk the earth, and why do they come to me?"
-Ebenezer Scrooge from A Duckmas Carol.

I'm inordinately proud of this picture.  No photoshopping involved, other than reducing it to fit The Pond's formatting... this is how it looked out of the camera.  But how?  Read on to see the behind-the-scene story of A Duckmas Carol: The Picture.

more...

Posted by: Wonderduck at 09:26 AM | Comments (9) | Add Comment
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Rudolph and Santa knew that there was just enough time for one last walkthrough before the big day.

Posted by: Wonderduck at 07:17 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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The Duck U Choral group loves this time of year...

Posted by: Wonderduck at 06:59 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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Did you know that dropping a candy cane into some hot chocolate is very, very tasty?

Conversely, dropping a rubber duckie into hot chocolate is not tasty at all.

Posted by: Wonderduck at 07:27 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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All together now: "Four EIGHT wings!  Four Eight freakin' wings!"

I'm not as happy with this picture as I was when I was taking it.  At the time, it looked incredibly dramatic with the long, long shadows and the leading edges of the wings glowing in the setting sun.  Somewhere in the dark recesses of my camera, a lot of the drama disappeared.  I suppose I could have photoshopped it, but for the Twelve Days of Duckmas I try to stay away from such things... other than contrast adjustments and color correction, and I don't even do a whole lot of that.

Still, hey!  Eight wings!

Posted by: Wonderduck at 02:40 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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1 It looks fine, honest. One of the things that always gets me when doing shots for the comic seems to have cropped up here, though: Eye reflectivity. "Crap, I need to turn her just a few degrees and shoot again..."

I vaguely recall reading a tutorial on one of the digital photography sites about getting the most out of high-contrast shots like that, where you're trying to get proper shadows instead of pale blue swaths of less-light. I can't remember which bits you have to fiddle with, though.

*googles*

Ah. HDR, High Dynamic Range. It was a three-part tutorial involving lots of specialized software tools on top of all the other setup. Maybe someday when I have extra time & money...

Posted by: GreyDuck at December 19, 2010 11:22 AM (7lMXI)

2 Actually, the angel with the gold wings is a little shiny all over, in comparison to the angel in white.  Short of spraying it with a matte finish, the shiny eyes would have happened under any light.

Posted by: Wonderduck at December 19, 2010 11:43 AM (W8Men)

3 Maru the cat meets a duck, it's very something http://sisinmaru.blog17.fc2.com/

Posted by: Tony von Krag at December 19, 2010 10:40 PM (VGXAE)

4 Eight wings! That never even crossed my mind..hilarious, though. I bet those ducks can fly pretty fast

Posted by: Digicolleen at December 21, 2010 01:14 PM (y3twI)

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Sometimes I put a lot of effort into these photos.  The picture on the Third Day of Duckmas in 2009 is an example.  I had to come across the idea in the first place, figure out what duckies to use for it, then I ran around the Duck U campus trying to find a suitable bit of terrain... the day before the shoot.  Then there was getting to the top of the hill, not easy when it was as steep as it was and covered with snow and ice, setting up the duckies so they wouldn't blow away in the gusting winds and frozen surface.  Only then could I take the pictures, all the while hoping that they turned out because the sun was so bright that the screen was washed out.  THEN I had to trudge back up the hill and reset the duckies for another pose and do it all over again.  All of that was done with the air temperature around 5°F and winds blowing around 20mph.

Yes, sometimes I put a lot of effort into these photos.  And then there was today's picture.  Explaining to the Duck U HR office why I was borrowing their snowman took longer than the setup and picture-taking... and they're used to me doing odd things with duckies.  Yet this pic might be the one that turns out to be the best for Duckmas 2010 anyway.  Love it when that happens.

Posted by: Wonderduck at 08:29 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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The gingerbread duckies decided to branch out at this year's Duckmas party...

Posted by: Wonderduck at 08:09 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Three Wise Men Ducks make their way somewhere, watched by two wise guys. 

We'll be seeing the Wise Men Ducks again, somewhere down the line...

Posted by: Wonderduck at 07:28 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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You can't keep a good duckie down... even with an elf attendant.

Posted by: Wonderduck at 07:02 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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And here we go...

Its the traditional beginning to the annual Twelve Days of Duckmas event here at The Pond, the "duckie in a fir tree."  It's how we've started the past three years, and there's no way I'd change that... traditions are important, after all.

Tune in every day between today and December 25th for another entry in the Twelve Days of Duckmas for 2010!

Posted by: Wonderduck at 07:32 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Okay yes, the correct term for the snow we had today would be "a dusting," but it still was snowfall, and it did stick around.  And I did have to brush it off the DuckMobile, so I don't care what anybody says, that was an official snowfall.  Throw in the sub-20°F ambient temperatures and the gusty winds and you had yourself an ickycoldbad day.

And in a month we'll be saying "remember a few weeks ago, when it was 20 degrees and there wasn't any snow on the ground?  Ah, it was warm then!"  But today, I kinda wish I had Snowbird's earmuffs...

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Posted by: Wonderduck at 07:08 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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1 OK, you got me. What is that in the lower left? 

Posted by: Tony von Krag at November 26, 2010 08:26 AM (VGXAE)

2 It's Ph.Duck Chow.  I tried it to see what he was eating.

It's an egg-and-cheese souffle.  Ph.Duck is a non-meat-eater, though he had a square-inch-sized piece of turkey in celebration of the holiday.  He loved the souffle; I'm not fond of eggs, so it did nothing for me.

Posted by: Wonderduck at November 26, 2010 11:47 AM (vW/MM)

3 I thought it was biscuits and gravy. Haha. Guess it's my southern upbringing. Leftovers?

Posted by: Digicolleen at November 26, 2010 10:37 PM (y3twI)

4 Oh, I only wish...

Posted by: Wonderduck at November 26, 2010 10:52 PM (vW/MM)

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Every duckie loves themselves some pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving!

^{Pt2 will be coming after dinner today; look forward to it!}

Posted by: Wonderduck at 08:34 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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1 Mmmmmm, pie.

Happy Thanksgiving, sir!

Posted by: GreyDuck at November 25, 2010 11:32 AM (7lMXI)

2 Quacky Thanksgiving! Stear clear of the Turducken! Hee

Posted by: Digicolleen at November 25, 2010 01:35 PM (y3twI)

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